Gov. Greg Abbott
Texas Gov Greg Abbott will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. today (Tuesday, June 6), and is expected to announce his decision on whether to call a special session of the Texas Legislature, and if he does call a special session, what issues will be addressed.
Thanks to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s hissy fit over the House’s refusal to approve his ridiculous bathroom bill, SB 6, lawmakers failed to pass sunset legislation keeping five state agencies, including the Texas Medical Board, in business, before the session ended on May 29. The Legislature also failed to pass a property tax reform measure:
The House said the Senate’s bill wouldn’t be effective because it did not address school district taxes — which make up a large part of homeowners’ property tax bill — and many local city officials — mayors, police and fire departments — were against the measure, SB 2, because they said it would cause drastic cuts in spending for necessary city services. And the Senate hated the House bill because, senators said, it was too watered down.
In the waning days of the session, when Patrick and his minions began to realize that their bathroom bill — prohibiting transgender people from using the appropriate public restrooms and HB 2899, which would have banned trans people from appropriate restrooms AND rolled back local human rights ordinances — had no chance of passing, he began threatening to kill vital legislation (such as the sunset bills) to force a special session. But Abbott, who had expressed at least some support for the bathroom bills, is the only one who can actually call a special session, and the only one who can set the agenda for a special session.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, during a speech Monday night, June 5, at the Bell County Republican Dinner, Abbott suggested that property tax reform would be the main topic on the agenda for a special session. He did not mention bathroom bills.
